Lucid Dreaming

I am a substitute teacher. I’m walking down a hall. I lift off and begin to fly. I see my little dog, Monet, down on the floor. I wonder if I can pick him up and continue flying. I land, lift him up and take off again. It works. I am controlling my dream. The dream fades.

I decide to prolong my flying and remember I am supposed to spin like a top to continue. I do that. The scene changes and becomes more vivid, colorful and bright. I decide to fly faster and I do. I look out a large, narrow window. I fly through it with no resistance. The landscape below resembles an old English countryside. Women in long flowing dresses stroll along sunny pathways.

Now I’m flying over endless water with small islands just big enough for one or two people. Women are pleasurably picnicking on each island. I notice one island a distance away and fly toward it. It is gorgeous and concaved like a big salad bowl. I see trees landscaped in beautiful patterns and an artfully arranged herd of grazing zebras. It looks like an extremely beautiful animated painting. I awake feeling I have discovered – and retrieved – a secret, beautiful jewel.

The above is a lucid dream I logged into my journal. I keep two dream journals: one for lucid dreams, the other for ordinary dreams.

Each night in bed, I do a relaxation process that includes programming myself (dream incubation) to wake up throughout the night and in the morning to recall and write down my dreams. When I awake during the night, I lay still, eyes closed and rehearse any remembered dreams before writing them down.

Before I return to sleep, I do another dream process telling myself, “The next time I dream, I will remember to recognize one of my personal dream signs and say in my dream, ‘I must be dreaming’ and do whatever I want in that dream.” This is termed “dream induction.”

Remembering and writing down your dreams upon awakening is the first step in learning what your own personal dream signs are. After you have written down a minimum of 12 dreams, examine them and categorize repetitive characteristic features of your dreams into four groups. Formulated by Stephen LaBerge, PhD and founder of The Lucidity Institute located in Stanford CA, these categories include:

• Inner Awareness – peculiar thoughts, emotions, sensations and perceptions.

• Action – you, a character or object, do something impossible in waking life.

• Form – you, a character or object, are oddly formed.

• Context – the place or situation you are in seems strange.

The category that holds the most of your dream events in it will be your personal dream signs.

What you are looking for in your dreams are scenes that are so unrealistic and unbelievable that they couldn’t possibly be real, therefore, you must be dreaming. Knowing that you are dreaming and saying you are dreaming (while still in your dream) triggers a mechanism that allows the dreamer to take control of and change the dream any way he or she desires. This is lucid dreaming.

The way the conscious mind can enter the dream state and begin controlling lucid dreams is by utilizing a normal function of the dreaming mind called “day residue.” Day residue is a term for experiences you have during your waking hours that will appear in your dream scenarios a few days later. Therefore, throughout the day, seek out and observe (sometimes using your imagination to exaggerate) everyday scenes or scenarios in your waking life that fall into your personal dream sign category. After observing such an event, mentally or aloud, state, “I must be dreaming.” You are training your dream mind to have your dream self say, “I must be dreaming” after a day residue event works itself into a dream. Saying “I must be dreaming” is the gateway to immediately transforming a dream into a lucid dream.

Lucid dreams are useful for creative problem solving. I am a watercolorist. I was pondering a color scheme. That night I dreamed I was in an art museum when I realized I was dreaming. I saw a large painting with yellow and pink irregular stripes slanting diagonally across the surface. The next day I incorporated it into my work.

Another way to gain insight on matters such as personal and spiritual grown, self-healing and eliminating bad dream characters is discussing these areas with and petitioning dream characters for solutions. Or you can incubate a lucid dream on the situation or once in a lucid dream intentionally turn your will toward the question in mind.

We spend over a quarter of our lives asleep. If you already remember your dreams and especially if you write down your dreams, why not practice these mental exercises and expand your lifetime adventures?

Lucid dreams appear more focused, colorful and awesome than real life experiences, even incorporating magnificently enhanced clear vision, taste, smell, hearing and tactile functions. I often think (and desire) that lucid dreaming is what our souls experience as they leave our corporeal bodies in death and begin their sojourn in the hereafter. If so, I thank God that I have these wonderful opportunities to experience heaven on earth and rehearsals for the most precious journey of my lifetime.

Pleasant dreams to all and to all a good night.

Carole Overall has participated in countless retreats, seminars and workshops for self-awareness, self-exploration and self-empowerment. She is a student of A Course in Miracles. She has kept dream journals over the past 30 years and studied lucid dreaming for the past 10 years. View her work at www.fineartlampscapes.com She can be reached at (248) 620-0125.